Craig Thomson facing 19 new charges as lawyers plead for more time

By Mark Russell

May 22, 2013 — 10.18am

Former Federal Labor MP Craig Thomson - accused of using a Health Services Union credit card to pay for prostitutes - has appeared in court today to face 19 fresh charges.

Mr Thomson, 48, who last week announced he would stand as an independent for his NSW seat of Dobell at the September federal election after being suspended by the Labor Party, appeared briefly in the Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with a total of 173 fraud and theft offences.

The 19 new charges, which include allegations that he used the HSU credit card to pay for pornographic movies at the Swissotel in Sydney and the Pacific International Suites in Melbourne, come on top of 154 previous charges.

Defence lawyer Paul Galbally, acting for Mr Thomson, asked for the case to be adjourned because there were 25 volumes of material and more than 140 witnesses involved in the case.

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Craig Thomson arrives at the Magistrates Court in Melbourne.Credit:Penny Stephens

Mr Galbally said the MP’s defence team needed time for better management of the matter.

He asked magistrate Luisa Bazzani to adjourn the case to June 21 which, despite being a sitting day in Parliament, was a day Mr Thomson would be available to travel to Melbourne to appear in court.

Mr Galbally said Parliament was sitting for two weeks next month until June 27.

Ms Bazzani said June 21 was unsuitable for the court but agreed to adjourn the matter, saying she had read the brief of evidence against Mr Thomson and there was ‘‘an enormous volume of material to get through’’.

Illustration: Ron Tandberg.

She ordered Mr Thomson to appear in court on July 1 and renewed his bail.

The magistrate said Mr Thomson’s bail conditions included that he give police 24 hours notice of any change of address or if he planned to travel interstate or overseas, apart from going to Canberra for his parliamentary duties, and not to contact any employees of a number of businesses, including one which operated the Touch of Class brothel in Sydney.

Mr Thomson, who appeared in court without his wife, Zoe, said he could not comment on the case because it was before the courts but denied it was distracting him from his work as a federal MP.

He is accused of using the HSU credit cards to pay for sexual services at Tiffany’s Girls, which claims to be Sydney’s best brothel, Boardroom Escorts, A Touch of Class, Keywed Pty Ltd (a company allegedly linked to the escort agency Sydney Outcalls Network) and Aboutoun Catering (listed as an escort service).

The amount paid at the Sydney brothels and escort agencies totalled more than $5600 between March 2003 and August 2007.